"We have had a tremendous number of businesses interrupted and impacted by this weather condition," said Malloy, who toured a Norwalk restaurant that was flooded during the storm.

"Hopefully they'll get the resources by way of grants or other recoveries, through insurance, or small business loans to reopen and be a vital part of Connecticut's vital economy," he said. "That's why we're all here."

Mills was more blunt.

"Our pledge to you is that we have your back," she said. "We will be with you every step of the way."

Homeowners and small-business owners can visit the five FEMA disaster recovery centers across Connecticut to register with the agency and get help filling out documents for all sorts of aid, such as long-term, low-interest loans or grants.

The SBA can turn around loans within seven to 10 days, Mills said, and get the money out five days after that.

The other centers are at the Western Greenwich Civic Center, the Long Wharf Campus of Gateway Community College in New Haven, the Groton Senior Center and the Old Saybrook Department of Police Services.

Information is also available at SBA.gov or by calling the SBA customer service center at 1-800-659-2955.

"Small business owners," Mills said, "are the fabric of the community. They need to get back in operation so the jobs can continue, and so they can continue to provide the services to the community."

Lighting towns

Meanwhile, the region's utility companies, following days of criticism from local leaders, made progress Saturday in restoring power.

By nightfall, about 100,000 customers remained in the dark across the state, half as many as Friday.

Overall, 8 percent of United Illuminating Co. customers lacked power. In Trumbull, nearly 6,000 more customers were plugged in Saturday, dropping to 2,351 outages, or 17 percent of the town, versus 58 percent.

In Fairfield, 6,354 customers were still powerless Saturday evening, or 29 percent. That was down from 43 percent Friday night.

Fairfield's emergency shelter, now only open at night, was down to 8 residents. With the record flooding pumped out of the beach area, residents and licensed private contractors were allowed to navigate the area Saturday, though parking was limited and officials warned of lingering hazards.

Bridgeport was down to 2,686 outages, or about 5 percent of its customers; Milford was down to 4,095 outages, or 15 percent; and Stratford was down to 1,982 outages, or 9 percent.

Connecticut Light & Power Co. also reported big declines in power outages, down to about 72,000, or 5 percent, of its customers. But most outages were concentrated in Fairfield County -- Greenwich had 33 percent out, New Canaan had 55, Westport had 44, Ridgefield had 32, Norwalk had 26 and Stamford had 11 percent out.

On its website, CL&P (http://www.cl-p.com) has a timetable of estimated power restoration times, based on zip code.

James Torgerson, chief executive of UI Holdings, United Illuminating's parent company, said that the power company had "more resources on the ground at the start of (Hurricane) Sandy than we did at the peak of Irene," the August 2011 tropical storm.

More than 500 linemen and 375 tree workers are working in UI's 17-town service area, Torgerson said, along with 100 service people who are licensed electricians repairing meters and feeder wires for individual property owners.

Since Sandy left Connecticut, both United Illuminating and Connecticut Light & Power and have reduced the peak of 640,000 customer outages by more than 75 percent.

UI has said it will have 95 percent of its customers restored by midnight Monday. CL&P's estimate is Monday or Tuesday.

"Our crews have made significant progress yesterday evening and will continue to work around the clock until all customers are restored," said James P. Torgerson, UIL's chief executive officer. "We continue to have crews dispersed all over the UI service territory working diligently to restore power."

Looking forward

Back at the HCC press conference, Malloy was asked whether the state would send equipment and personnel to New York and New Jersey. He said that would happen, but that it was still a few days away.

He added that all the state's polling stations should be ready to go for Tuesday's election. He said up to 35 stations could be run by generators, though.

Then he turned for a final question to JoAnn and Tony Malinowki, who own Pop's Grocery Store in Bridgeport's South End.

The couple told of how their 51-year-old family business has been rattled harder by Irene and Sandy than any other storms in its history.

What, Joann asked, should the state be doing to protect the shoreline?

Malloy ticked off a list of possible infrastructure improvements: increasing the use of micro-grids and seawalls, he said, as well as raising homes and updating building codes.

Later, the Malinowskis said they are still paying back an SBA loan from after Irene. Now their basement is flooded again, and their store is as damaged as ever.

Mills offered JoAnn a hug. She said they're still eligible for new loans.

"We're pushing to get people to register, register, register," she said.